Souper Bowl of Caring

This Sunday is the Super Bowl, and a lot of people are pretty excited about it.

The National Chicken Council is excited. They project that 1.33 billion chicken wings will be eaten before and during the Big Game.

Pizza restaurants are excited. Super Bowl Sunday is their third biggest day of the year, following only Halloween and New Year's Eve, and over 4,000,000 pizzas are expected to be picked up or delivered from the top three chains alone.

Grocery stores are excited. We United States fans spend lots of money on Super Bowl food - the only meal on which we spend more is Thanksgiving.

And the DuPage People's Resource Center is pretty excited, too, but not about profit. They are excited about what they will receive that they can give away. For them, this Sunday is "Souper Bowl of Caring" Sunday, a day that can replenish the shelves of their food pantries. We are invited to take part in the "Souper Bowl" after each service this Sunday, by placing our loose change (and even paper money is accepted!) in the soup kettles we'll see as we leave the sanctuary. We'll be joining with congregations and community groups across the country who are finding ways this weekend to look beyond our own tables - and to give of our abundance for those in need.

Speaking of food, this Sunday's scripture (Mark 1:29-39) includes an account of an after-worship meal that that took on much richer meaning than expected. A person who seemed to have no power and no future was noticed by Jesus, reached out to by Jesus, and set free to be a giving, impacting person in her home and community. That's the kind of freedom Jesus always seems to be demonstrating in the Gospels - not a "freedom from" difficulties, but a "freedom for" a life that makes a difference in the midst of them.

And in Sunday's services, we'll be sharing in the very simple meal that draws us together as the Body of Christ - the Bread and Cup of Holy Communion.

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God, as known to us in Jesus Christ, welcomes all.

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